LLC Annual Report: What It Actually Costs and When It’s Due in Every State

An LLC annual report is a yearly (or sometimes biennial) filing with your state’s Secretary of State that confirms your LLC’s registered agent, address, and member or manager information. Fees range from $0 in states like Arizona and Ohio to $500 in Massachusetts, and deadlines vary by state, from fixed calendar dates to your LLC’s anniversary month. Miss it, and most states first apply a late fee, then start the administrative dissolution clock.

Every week, we file an LLC annual report for a client and run into the same sort of confusion. There is a tendency to conflate it with a tax filing or to make assumptions based on how another state does things. But you can’t apply one state’s rules to all. Take Delaware: they don’t even call it an annual report for an LLC. In Florida, there is no room for error; be a day late, and you are hit with a $400 penalty, period.

What Is an LLC Annual Report, Exactly?

Think of it as a status update rather than a tax return. The Secretary of State wants confirmation that your LLC is still in business, who is at the helm, and where legal notices should be directed. While requirements differ, most will ask for the registered agent‘s name and address, the principal place of business, and the names of any members or managers. California, for instance, requires a statement of information on the type of business activity.

This has nothing to do with your federal obligations, whether that is a Form 1065, a Schedule C for a disregarded entity, or a Form 1120 if you have elected corporate taxation. We have seen founders believe that filing with the IRS satisfies state compliance. It doesn’t. The two systems do not communicate. And while some states may combine it with a franchise tax payment, for the most part, it is a separate matter.

When Is the LLC Annual Report Due? It Depends Entirely on Your State

There is no single deadline you can count on; it depends entirely on your state. You will find three general approaches:

• A fixed calendar date. All LLCs in the state file by the same day. Florida makes May 1 the cutoff. Delaware LLCs must pay their $300 flat franchise tax by June 1, which is a point of contention for many coming from other states since the traditional report isn’t required here.
• Anniversary-based. Wyoming is a case in point. If your LLC was formed on August 10, the report is due on August 1 going forward (the state allows you to file up to 120 days in advance).
• Formation month. Some, like California, use the actual anniversary date instead of the first of the month.

As of March 2026, here is how it breaks down in a few common jurisdictions:

• Delaware: No traditional report, just the $300 franchise tax due June 1. If you go late, you will owe $200 plus 1.5% interest per month.
• Wyoming: A license tax of at least $60 (or $0.0002 for every dollar in Wyoming assets) is due on the first of your anniversary month. A $25 penalty is tacked on for late filings.
• Florida: $138.75 for every entity comes on May 1.

Miss the mark, and most states will levy a late fee before beginning the administrative dissolution process. Fees can be as high as $500 in Massachusetts or as low as $0 in Ohio and Arizona.  Fail to file, and Sunbiz will impose a $400 penalty with no room for negotiation, making the tab come to $538.75. We have made an effort to obtain a waiver, but there is no process for it.

In Texas, you won’t find a conventional annual report; LLCs are required to submit a Public Information Report with their franchise tax by May 15.

California is another matter: an $800 franchise tax is levied each year, irrespective of your income or activity, on top of a $20 Statement of Information, which is due within 90 days of formation and biennially thereafter.

Before you put pen to paper on any filing, do yourself a favor and look up the relevant Secretary of State’s website. A handful of states have revised their fees in the last 18 months.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

Most non-resident founders don’t appreciate how severe the repercussions can be when they come in waves.

First comes the late fee. In Florida, this is a flat $400, among the steepest in the country. Delaware will tack on a 1.5% monthly interest to its penalty that compounds if you leave it alone.

Then you lose good standing. The LLC remains active in name only; you cannot obtain a certificate of good standing. That is important because banks want to see one for your accounts, as do payment processors such as Stripe and Mercury. Lacking it can scuttle a contract renewal or put a hold on financing.

If you let it go, you face administrative dissolution. Florida will not dissolve you until the third Friday in September; Wyoming gives 60 days from formal notice, but eventually the state will cancel your registration.

You are left running an entity with no legal standing. To reinstate, all back fees and penalties must be paid in full, plus a reinstatement charge. We have had to put clients’ LLCs back in order after they were dissolved for a year or more, simply because a founder abroad never got the state’s reminder (it goes to the registered agent, not to them). This is why we make it a point to tell our clients not to serve as their own registered agent unless they are in the US.

Common Mistakes We See Founders Make

• Assuming the formation service will take care of things. Some will, others won’t, and the latter have a way of hiding that in the fine print. Get it in writing that your compliance filings are covered.
• Tendency to conflate the franchise tax with the annual report. They differ in places like Delaware and Texas, each with its own portal and due dates. One does not satisfy the other.
• Using a home address for the registered agent on the report. That becomes public record. We had a founder discover, a year later, that his address in another country was on the Secretary of State’s site because he had filled in the field himself without thinking about what gets published.
• Electing S-corp status with the IRS via Form 2553 and thinking that absolves them of state-level LLC filings. It does not.
• Waiting until the last week. Both Delaware and Wyoming let you file early (Wyoming up to 120 days in advance). Why rely on a payment portal to cooperate on the day of the deadline?

Step-by-Step: How to File Your LLC Annual Report

1. First, make sure you have your state and entity number at hand. The Secretary of State file number is what you need; do not confuse it with your EIN, as they are distinct identifiers from different agencies.
2. Navigate to the proper state portal by searching for “[Your State] Secretary of State annual report.” Be certain the .gov address is official and not a third-party service looking to add a markup to the filing.
3. This is the time to put in any updates to your registered agent, principal address, or member/manager information. If there have been changes since the last report, correct them here.
4. When it comes to the filing fee, have a card on hand that is accepted for international payments if you are submitting from abroad; some state systems are particular about which cards they accept. Once done, download the receipt or take a screenshot of it. You should have proof of timely filing in case of any dispute, as the state may not always email you a copy.
5. And don’t forget to put in a recurring reminder for next year. It is better not to count on the state’s notice reaching you, particularly if your registered agent is slow to forward mail.

FAQs

Keep Your LLC in Good Standing Without Tracking Fifty Different Deadlines

EasyFiling can help you avoid the hassle of keeping track of 50 different deadlines. Our compliance service is designed for non-resident founders who can’t rely on a US mailing address or anyone with multi-state obligations. We will file for you and let you know on a state-by-state basis exactly what your LLC owes and when. Just contact us.